Stage 1 - April 18: Augusta, GA - Macon, GA, 207.4km

Michaelsen calls in favour for sprint win in Georgia

Lars Michaelsen (CSC) called in a marker today from back in 1999 when he was
on a composite team with Mark McCormack at the Tour of Denmark. "I saw the course
map this morning and had no idea of how [the finish] was," Michaelsen said.
"But during the race today I was talking to [Mark] McCormack -- he and I go
a long way back. In 1999 we did the Tour of Denmark on a mixed team together.
He pulled out a stage win then, and I helped him out then explaining the circuit,
and now it's pay back time! He said [the finish] had a good hill in it with
cobblestones and that it was fast so to stay in the front, so that's what I
did! Michaelsen utilized the reconnaissance knowledge to the fullest by positioning
himself perfectly in the final two turns, setting himself up for the first stage
win of the 2006 Tour de Georgia.

Today's win is welcomed for the thirty-seven year-old, confirming his abilities
against the younger riders in the field. "It's very rewarding to get confirmation
you are still able to compete with the young guys," Michaelsen said. "I used
to be a good sprinter in my young days, and every once in a while I pull one
out of my hat."

One of those 'younger' guys was Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) who continued
his many-year run of bad mechanical luck when riding in the States. Entering
the city of Macon, Rodriguez flatted. "I got a flat coming in to the circuit
and when I got the change I realized the wheel was broken -- the gears were
skipping on the wheel," Rodriguez explained. "At that point the pace was so
high that I dropped my own guys getting back in. I knew I had to make it in
before we hit the hill and that cost me a little energy. I thought maybe then
I would work for Henk but once I got the front I got re-motivated. It looked
all good coming into the last corner. I was on Henk's wheel and we got cut off.
Next thing you know I went from third wheel to tenth. I asked Henk to keep going
but it cost him too much and couldn't get going again. Then I waited until about
150 meters and then passed everybody except for Lars."

That cut-off was riders trying to take advantage of the extra-wide turn to
push their cornering -- resulting in riders not being able to hold their lines.
One of the casualties was Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez along with a handful
of other riders -- but all were ok in the end.

Always looking on the bright side, Rodriguez is content in the fact that his
legs are finally coming around after a rough spring campaign. "The good thing
is my legs are coming back, so I am happy about that. I love racing at home
and doing well at home."

With the first win of the race, Michaelsen pulls on the race leader's jersey
and sprint leader's jersey -- something that Michaelsen doesn't expect to defend
beyond tomorrow. "Tomorrow's stage everyone will be motivated to get a win.
It will be the last call for the sprinters until Sunday." After tomorrow, it
will be up to teammate David Zabriskie to bear the CSC flag. "If he's good in
the time trial and able to beat Floyd in the time trial we will take it from
there."

Taking the best young rider jersey is Suanier Duval-Prodir's Peter Mazur --
though probably not for long. "We will not work to keep the best young rider
jersey. It was just a lucky thing. I was sweeping for Ventoso and Palegrini.
I need more time for racing with these guys. I had some trouble staying onto
Palagrini’s wheel because he moves very fast in the group. I am happy with the
jersey because it is my first jersey with Suanier Duval-Prodir.

How it unfolded

Unlike last year's first stage, the riders were motivated to ride faster by
a slight tail wind. Attacks came fast and frequent but the higher speeds prevented
from anything more than a few seconds from getting away.

Finally, after a few hours, a small break rolled off the front with a field
tired of chasing everything down. In the group is Aaron Olson (Prodir-Saunier
Duval), Dan Bowman (TIAA CREF), Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe's-Zero Gravity) and
Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com - Sierra Nevada). "I was sitting last wheel
for the first two hours, just being careful with my hand," said Olson. I went
back to get some bottles and took them to the front and just followed one move
and that's the one that stayed away. Then my day became hard!"

The quartet rolled a quick pace, led by Olson on the downhills. "I was trying
to keep it fast on the downhills. It was working pretty good and they gave us
quite a bit of time."

"We were working really well together," said Shirley. "As soon as we established
the break it seemed like the other teams were content with it and we gained
a maximum of 11 minutes. Olson took control and was very steady for the entire
break. Everyone was taking equal pulls the whole way."

The break managed to get up to over eleven minutes on the field, and even held
a good lead coming into the last forty kilometers. It seemed that the field
had a difficult time deciding who should do the work to bring the break back.
"It was a bit of tactics of who was going to work," Rodriguez explained. "We
put two guys on there with United, but then they took their guys off so we took
our guys off. Finally we were all negotiating, 'Are you going to put somebody
on? Not if you don't put somebody on!' It went back and forth until Discovery
put their effort on."

With Discovery on the front, the time began to fall and more teams chipped
in their efforts. As the time gap shrank, Olson became antsy and tried to attack
the break. Shirley covered the first two attempts but then about five kilometers
later, on a small rise, Olson attacked again and kept a gap. "Myself and [Bowman]were
not having a good day,"Admitted Stewart. "We were definitely the weaker two
in the break. Olson was on fire today and was clearly looking great."

With less than fifteen kilometers to go, Olson held a twenty-second lead on
the chasers and a minute on the field but was nearing his limit. "By about ten
or twelve kilometers to go I felt like throwing up!" But all was not lost on
his efforts, as the attacking at the end earned him the most aggressive rider
jersey -- giving his team two jersey's tomorrow.

As the race entered the circuits, the three chasers were swallowed be the field,
and Olson lasted until almost seeing the finish line with three laps to go.
From there, the field kept the gas on, preventing any counter-attacks from succeeding.
CSC's Allan Johansen broke away, grimacing his face while he built a fifty meter
lead. "He did a nice job," Michaelsen said. "We were told to be a little aggressive.
Doing that attack made the other teams work and I was just sitting on."

Luckily for teams like Davitamon-Lotto, chasing down these attacks did not
require much work. "The pace was so high we didn't have to cover much -- the
guys came back by themselves," said Rodriguez.

As the laps ticked off, the field stayed together led by teams like Discovery
Channel, Quick Step-Innergetic and Health Net-Maxxis. Unfortunately, sprinter
Gord Fraser was suffering under the same bad karma as Fred Rodriguez, flatting
on the circuits and suffering a slow wheel change. "I was feeling good and the
guys were riding so well," said Fraser. "I am not saying that I would have won
but I would have tried. My focus is on stage six now because I can do really
well there. Also to help my teammates over the next few days." From then on
the focus shifted to new rider Karl Menzies, who managed a fourth place on the
day.

The field was shifting positions every second on the final lap, and the downhill
portion of the last two kilometers became the battleground. "The last kilometer
is a lottery," said Michaelsen. "You need experience because if you are too
much in the front it is no good so you need to find the right spot at the right
time. I was focusing on coming to the last corner in the first five and I took
the second-to-last corner in fourth position and then I just fought my way to
stay up there. Then when we took the last corner they were too early -- and
when they all died I was ready to go."

Stage 2 - Fayetteville - Rome, 197.5km

Tomorrow the Tour de Georgia field tackles a relatively-flat stage with rolling hills (See stage map & profile), but the entry into the city of Rome could cause a split in the field, with three circuits involving a climb up the short but steep Clock Tower Hill.

Last year, Andrea Tafi put in a brave solo attack in his final US race, but was caught entering the circuits by a fast charging peloton, led by the entire Discovery Channel team, with Lance Armstrong in tow.

In fact, Armstrong was the surprise winner of the stage into Rome in the 2004 edition (stage 3), something he described as a "almost a freak experience" (not winning a race, but beating the sprinters at their own game).

Tafi was swallowed by the Discovery train, and in turn, the paler-shade-of-blue-train - Gerolsteiner - set up their sprinter, Peter Wrolich, who stole the show and took the win.

The finish is likely to be a bunch kick of 'sprinters-who-can-climb', or an opportunist rider with the explosive power to tackle the climb may be able to hold off what will be a hard-charging bunch, assuming the somewhat-inevitable breakaway group is caught.

Make sure you follow all the action, live on Cyclingnews,
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The day's only real break
- featuring Aaron Olson, Jackson Stewart, Dan Bowman and Andy Bajadali, couldn’t hold off the charging peloton. TdG0021_41806: And everyone was back together again for the finishing circuits.